The end (for now)

As elementary students, we were forced to spend an excessive amount of time with our classmates, moving from music, to gym to science in a unified bundle of naivety. In every class, there were always those few bullies and introverts that you never really associated with (unless of course you were a bully or an introvert) but aside from that you pretty well got along with everyone.

It’s one thing to spend unnatural amounts of time with people when you’re younger and you haven’t developed polarizing viewpoints and interests, but as you get older the expression, “everything in small doses really comes into play.” In Creative Communications we do everything with our classmates: we take all the same classes together, we spend our weekends studying together and occasionally we pull all-nighters together. So it goes without saying that there is tons of opportunity for war.

Somehow, the wonderful group of CreCommers that I ended up with, managed to get along fabulously - more than fabulously – despite all of our quirks and differences.

This just goes to show that differences are tolerable when people make the effort to really get to know each other. I’m going to miss these section 1 weirdos a ton!

Love you guys! 

Weird workout

One thing that I think really highlights our tendency to breakout of our comfort zone and let loose is how much we seem to enjoy trying new workouts. I don't what it is about exercising but whenever a weird way to burn calories catches on everyone wants to try it, no matter how bizarre it may be.

This week, I decided to check out Winnipeg's only indoor trampoline park, Sky Zone.

Why is repeatedly bouncing up and down so cathartic? Maybe it has something to do with an evoked sense of carefree, childlike pleasure. Whatever it is, I have never enjoyed a work-out more in my life.

Sky Zone offers all sorts of trampoline based programming including dodge ball leagues, exercise classes and jump times for all ages. Because it was my first visit, I opted out of taking an actual class and decided to just bounce around for two straight hours. During my next visit, which there will definitely be many of, I plan on taking a "sky robics" class (a drop in visit is on $12).

 

So if you're looking for a fun, unconventional way to work out over the holidays, check out Sky Zone, located at 200-400 Fort Whyte Way.

 

 

Risk takers

I've always been fascinated by people who start their own businesses; what a risk! Check out my article in this week's issue of the Projector about a young Winnipeg couple who recently opened their own stationary supply store in the Exchange District. There's a lot of paths to go down in life, Danika and Drex are definitely on the one less traveled.

http://theprojector.ca/stories/view/beyond-loose-leaf

A Hat for Thought

Fashion trends are the most fickle of all trends: plume sauce-braised pork belly will live longer on the menus of trendy restaurants than leather body suits will hang in the windows of American Apparel. One reason, food is more of a personal experience, hate or love decision based on our automatic assessments of the message sent out by our taste buds. Clothing choices on the other hand, rely too heavily on the opinions of our fab friends. You’ve got to step outside of your comfort zone and be brave enough to rock the leopard print tutu that you saw Kate Moss wearing in this Month’s issue of Vanity Fair, to live up to the latest standards of cool.

And even then, fabsters like Ms. Moss aren’t the most accurate representation of what looks good on everyone. It really is difficult to gage what fashion trends are in, and what clothing pieces you should probably just burn.

But maybe there is some value in this fickleness.

Fashion trends are a great place to experiment (even if your tutu attempts go horribly wrong). For women, the world of fashion has historically been an access point to expressions of individuality. Even today, women employ the ever-changing trends of fashion to assert their presence in the male-dominated public sphere.

For example, girls and young women have recently been rocking the backwards baseball cap. Different patterns, colours and logos give a female twist to this typically male accessory. Without reading too much into a fashion trend that probably won't even last as long as your overly priced serving of plum sauce-braised pork belly, it's worth considering the larger implication of this style choice. 

It goes along with a growing number of androgynous fashion choices that speak towards a coming together of masculine and feminine style. And even if this trend dies out quickly, it's important to note that the backwards baseball cap played a role in altering the way we think of these two gender binaries.  

In the end, fickle fashion trends have more impact than Miley Cyrus' new sledge hammer accessory, and are worth the second look if you manage to catch a glimpse before they zoom by on a wrecking ball. 

Rob Ford: still a person

I know that everyone is probably sick of hearing about Rob Ford and his “stupors” (even though it’s kind of hard to get bored of someone when they out-stupid themselves everyday) but I think it’s important to talk about what makes this controversial figure so interesting to Canadians and to the rest of the world. 

In light of a video released today of the mayor drunkenly ranting about killing some unknown person, what parts of this whole Rob Ford ordeal should we really be focusing on? 

The fact that he probably has some addiction problems definitely means that he should step down as mayor of Canada’s largest city but it also indicates that he is a sick person, in need of  help. 

I’m not advocating that Rob Ford and the serious allegations against him should be treated lightly but I think this issue sheds light on certain, perhaps unfavorable elements of human nature. 

On social media and on certain local and international news outlets, a lot of the discussion surrounding the Toronto Mayor is focused on making fun of his drunken misconducts rather than  the implications that these episodes have on Rob Ford’s ability to lead. In Winnipeg and in other cities where we don’t actually have to deal with the mayor on a sociopolitical level, our job should be to inform the situation with facts and not meems that compare the mayor to crack addicted characters on Breaking Bad. 

The more that someone behaves in a way that is inappropriate in the eyes of society’s norms and social morays, the more that person is going to receive attention. It is easy to poke fun at failure and difference. “The bigger person” in this situation, are the people that discuss Rob Ford’s obvious problems in terms of his need for help and not through a comedic lens. We should definitely blast Rob Ford for his horrendous behavior over the last few months and for his response to that behavior, but we should be careful about how we discuss these matters. 

The video below was posted by Toronto comedian, Kenny Hotz who you may know for his popular series Kenny vs Spenny. Hotz has openly despised the mayor since his he was elected to office in 2010. This video is an example of the nature of the content circling on the web that make light of Mayor Ford’s serious substance abuse problems. I’ll admit, it’s hard not to laugh at stuff like this but in the end we’re laughing at a man who is sick and needs help. Being a public figure doesn’t give us the license to forget that he’s a human being.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VzLOaeNZEY

This Halloween, Throw Away the Cat Ears!

Halloween is a great excuse to unleash that quirky part of yourself that already dresses up in a wacky costume every other day of the year. People have so many different interests and beliefs and this occasion is the perfect opportunity to make individuality come alive, or dead depending on what your going for. 

Unfortunately, the trend in adult halloween celebration, has shifted away from quirky and towards something a lot more revealing.

It’s not even that young women and girls are using halloween as an opportunity to dress in practically nothing, put a pair of animal ears on their head and call themselves a “cat.” It has more to do with the fact that these costumes are entirely unoriginal and defeat the purpose of what is supposed to be a celebration of fright and creativity, a chance to experiment with that part of ourselves that pushes boundaries and steps out of comfort zones. 

I’ll admit that I have definitely used halloween as an opportunity to look sexy in something tight, but as I’ve matured a bit, I’ve discovered that there are other ways to be cute without shortening the skirts and tying the tops of my friends high school uniforms. 

I have a few friends that make it their mission to be original with their halloween costumes. My aim this year is to refrain from pulling my sister’s old tutu and body suit from her closet and calling myself a ballerina. 

My inspiration? 

1) The belief that I, like everyone, have a creative inclination to be silly and not worry too much about      what other people think

2) My very cool friend's halloween costumes from this year and past years. 

Emily as the U.S government shutdown

Riley as Mitt Romney with his "binders full of women" 

Becky is cute and creative in her "Freudian slip" costume

Emily as "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" 

My Friend is smrt

My good friend, Mike Skwark is one of the funniest people I have ever met. His humour stems from his ability to completely disregard what other people think of him. I envy this quality in my friend and I’m pretty sure that he wouldn’t be the talented rap artist that he is if he actually paid any attention to others’ judgements. 

When Mike’s rapping, he’s not Mike, he’s smrt His rap persona embodies a lesson of being yourself and expressing your thoughts and beliefs, no matter how controversial those ideas may be. 

This is not to say that Mike gets on stage and spits out extremist rhetoric. It’s simply that he makes a conscious effort to remain true to himself. This stance against conformity is reflected in his rapping and whenever I see one of his videos or attend one of his shows I’m always so impressed by his ability to communicate a message of individualism through his lyrics. 

Check out this smrt video and let me know what you think. 

Try Something New!

Trying something new is the best way to brach away from your usual interests and discover new things about yourself. Here's one activity I like to do when I feel grounded in routine:

Every Monday night, the Rose n Bee Pub provides apprehensive Winnipgers with the opportunity to break out of their comfort zone. Karaoke night at the Sherbrook watering hole is a great way to showcase or possibly even discover a hidden singing talent in a relaxed and fun environment. The pub just celebrated their one year anniversary last month so if you haven’t checked it out yet, stop by this Monday night, get in free of charge, take a $3 shot of tequila, and sing your heart out!

More Than the Coffee

In light of CBC’s Information Radio hosting a competition for the best cup of coffee in the city, I want to talk about what exactly constitutes ‘the best cup of coffee.’ For me, someone who doesn’t drink a lot of coffee, I believe that it has a lot to do with the unique environment that a good coffee shop is able to create and sustain. Thom Hiebert, owner of Thom Bargen Coffee and Tea on Sherbrook agrees!

“Service and experience are just as important as the cup of coffee itself. I really believe that I can give the best cup of coffee to a costumer and they can have a terrible experience with the space and with the people and not only will they not come back, they will probably say that was a terrible cup of coffee to their friends. I don’t even think the quality of the coffee is the most important thing that we do here.”

I really appreciate a tasty green tea, not overly steeped, not too bitter, but I could find that in my kitchen. When I head out to Thom Bargen, Cafe Postal, Parlour, or any of the other local coffee shops in Winnipeg, I’m there for another reason. Something special and nostalgic, that lives in the coffee shop environment."

In a time when social media allows us to communicate opinions and ideas rapidly, institutions like the coffee shop are among the few remaining destinations where the process of conversing is brought down to a much more natural and anecdotal level.

“The coffee shop is definitely a place for people to come to share ideas.” Says Louis Leveque Cote, a barista at Café Postal on Provencher. Sometimes two costumers will be talking and then another costumer or one of us who works here will just jump in."

When I scroll through my Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram feeds, the content is very much reflective of my interests and opinions. I think most people would say the same about their social media identities.  It’s when we branch away from what is familiar that our own perceptions on life begin to expand and become more complex.

“We have a bike polo group that comes into Café Postal. I never used to know anything about bike polo and from talking with them, now I do. There is a church just down the street and on Sundays people stop in for a coffee after the service is over. You really get a sense of all the polarizing view points that are out there.”

So as you make your way around the city trying out all the local coffee shops that made it into the final five of Information Radio’s Best Coffee Competition, make sure you put away your smartphone and pay careful attention to your experience. A cup of coffee is special in its ability to attract people from all walks of life. 

Ben Swims With Belugas!

How to define sub-culture has been a major question of mine over the past couple of years. This may sound like a bizarre subject to contemplate on a regular basis but for me it's consuming because varying degrees of "different" or "unusual" define everyone's life.

If we say that someone or something is sub-cultural it usually implies that they are standing against societal norms or social morays. A rebellion of sorts.

I've come to think of it a little differently. While the term sub-culture definitely characterizes people whose membership to a certain group places them outside of the boundaries of normal, it's also true that we all behave in ways and participate in activities that don't conform to the rigid standards of how our society expects us to act. 

From this understanding, which may not be your personal definition of the term, I go about investigating Winnipeg looking for people and events that venture away from their comfort zones, often from society's comfort zones, and tread in beluga-infested waters. 

This week, I had the amazing opportunity to report for Culture Days. I went to some very cool events and hung out with some very cool people, many of whom were branching out of their comfort zones and expressing themselves in new ways. 

Ben Chafe was one of these very cool people. For Nuit Blanche, the all night events that takes place on the Saturday of Culture Days, Ben showcased his video project Leise at Union Sound Hall. Leise can be described as a series of projections against a wall of various media images. Ben had a bunch of his friends dance in front of the images creating live performance art. His own conception of the work outlines it's quirkiness best: 

"It tells a story from darkness to lightness, back to this spooky glow... Basically this sort of Mickey Mouse meets Lord Voldemort meets your stupid six year old cousin. And they all do like, meth or something." 

Union Sound Hall was one of the busiest Nuit Blanche venues this year. As someone just beginning to showcase their work publicly, Ben was very nervous to be part of an event with so many other experienced artists.

"The other artists who submitted their videos are friends of mine and are super talented, it was a big deal to even be on a loop with their names attached. It was nice to have our families there and have everyone embrace it for what this little video was. My friends involved in the video itself are really brave for having their image shown in a big room like that, there was a lot of love in the air."

Ben shares that he would be very excited to be part of Culture Days and Nuit Blanche next year, he feels Winnipeg is a very interesting place to be for a young artist. 

"I would be more than keen to be apart of something again next year. Winnipeg undoubtedly loves art and loves to party, it's a romantic night where the two really come together and the city gets to celebrate it as a family."

 Ben and his very cool work during the year's Culture Days demonstrate the positive impact of trying new things that scare us. For Ben, dabbling with sub-culture altered his understanding of his artistic capabilities and pushed him out of his comfort zone.

Freedom of Expression Through Narrative

What makes Thin Air, Winnipeg’s international writing festival so fantastic is the diverse list of authors who share their work during the week long September event. When Karen Press, my  Creative Writing instructor, told us CreCommers that we would hearing from Shawna Dempsey and Lori Millan, two lesbian women known for challenging conceptions of sexuality through explicit performance art, I was intrigued. And for some reason their names sounded vaguely familiar. 

I racked my brain and the pages of my old Women’s and Gender’s studies text books for the answer. After a little bit of search, I came across Creative Subversions, a text that pulls apart Canadian identity through examinations of minority experience.

Dempsey, Millan, and their project, Lesbian National Park’s and Services, was the focus of one of the chapters! 

I knew I had come across the two Winnipeg women’s names somewhere. And after rereading their chapter in Creative Subversions and remembering that Lesbian National Park’s and Services was not actually a government organization but a performance art piece designed to put in perspective common sense assumptions of what and who belong in wilderness spaces, I was very excited to listen to the women as part of Thin Air.

The work they red from for the festival was called Bedtime Stories for the End of the World. Like Lesbian National Park’s and Services, the content of this project does not conform to what its title suggests. Unless of course you feel comfortable reading to your kids from a collection of sexually explicit short stories. 

In their first reading, Dempsey and Millan told a tale of female pirates from the 1700’s brought together by a love for adventure, freedom and each other. The story was fiction but the characters had been real pirates.

Females are not typically associated with the rough and tough life of a pirate. Neither are lesbians. But of course, as Dempsey and Millan illustrate, females, lesbians and many other marginalized groups were present during all aspects of history. 

The work that these women do embodies the notion of sub-culture by forcing us to acknowledge the untold story. When we examine history, one or two narratives often dominant certain individuals and events. Stigmatized groups are virtually unheard from. 

I felt so lucky to be able to experience literature that challenges my stereotypes. Narrative is so powerful in it’s ability to create vividness and for this reason I think it is an amazing way to establish dialogue around certain sub-cultural elements of our society. 

Everyone has a story, not everyone has the freedom to share. The work of Dempsey and Millan gives voice to the untold story. 

Who You Gonna Call!?

For those of you who are familiar with The Forks Market, you may be well aware that it is a very peculiar place.

I've always found obscurity in its historical transformation from an early Aboriginal settling grounds through to its modern day use as a multi-cultural food court and shopping centre.

But on a day-to-day basis, the forks is a quirky environment because it signifies a coming together of so many different types of people and ideologies.

Having worked there for the past five years, I have developed relationships with business owners, employees and costumers, who are completely different from my usual group of friends. I have conversations with them that I would never have outside of The Forks Market setting.

I could tell you a thing or two about Moe and his passion for gourmet cheese and wine.

I know all about Betty from Tall Grass Prairie and the scores in her son's elite level soccer games

And as of this week, I have learned that Victor Martin, an employee of Fergie's Fish and Chips, has a paranormal investigation business on the side.

I don't believe in ghosts, I don't know many people that do.

Victor not only believes in Ghosts, but he also interacts with them!

"I've been seeing and hearing ghosts all my life, in every city that I have ever lived in and Winnipeg is undoubtedly the most haunted place in Canada," Victor explains to me while I stop and chat with him on an extra-long washroom break from the place I work a couple of shops over.

"There's more paranormal activity here because of the water. "

A minute into our conversation about ghosts and I realize that this could go on all day!

I like to consider myself a fairly reasonable individual but somehow this self-proclaimed "ghost buster" is beginning to make me feel like paranormal activity may actually be a thing....

A big thing in fact!

"Manitoba has many different paranormal activity teams, we're just one of them and we offer our services for free!"

So how does this whole ghost hunting business even work? My only frame of reference is an image of Bill Murray running around in a snot-green one piece with a vacuum cleaner attached to his back.

"I'm working on a house in St-Vital where a spirit just won't leave the owner alone. It used to live in the  house and it hasn't figured out that it's dead yet. My crew has been making regular visits to the house to try and catch some audio and video of it."

I ask to see some of the footage that Victor has captured during previous paranormal excursions but he tells me that his team is saving everything they have recorded for a video compilation.

I thank Victor for the cool new perspective he has given me on ghosts and their presence in my city.

"Oh by the way, I've seen ghosts a bunch of times here in The Forks Market."

Great. Closing later this evening is going to rock.

If you or anyone you know is experiencing what may be characterized as paranormal activity, visit Victor's website! He's a really friendly guy and his team would be happy to investigate any suspicions.

Victor Martin, Fish Fryer/Ghost Buster

A Question of Perspective

Everything we now except as normal was derived from obscurity, a sub-culture of sorts. 

Jesus Christ, for example, wasn’t preaching to the masses, his words resonated to a few loyal friends who were crazy enough to stand up to blind conformity. 

I often notice how this same trend applies to the people I see on the streets of Winnipeg. This is not to say that I regularly observe short, long-bearded men jumping up on boulevards, shouting out anti-establishment rhetoric. But what one day may be considered silly or bizarre, can be normalized the next, it’s simply a question of perception. 

My friend decided to shave the side of her head last month. She has gorgeous long black hair. I wept. My gleaned understanding of what qualifies beauty completely shattered. 

A couple of weeks later, I got used to it and I even began to like her new look. When I went out in the evenings I noticed that more and more people were adopting the same style. I looked on the Internet and saw Miley twerking with a shaved ring around the bottom a blonde bob.  

It’s something to consider when it comes to immediately defining behavior as weird. 

This is not to say that I will partially shave my head or dance naked on a wrecking ball but hey, I’m not judging. 

Happy Friday everyone!

And even though Miley's hair cut is becoming popularized, lets hope her behaviour in this new video isn’t.  

Sociology

In my first year of university I took an introduction to sociology course. The world around me became a little clearer as I realized that my youthful decision to chop off my beautiful barbie's beautiful locks was less about an innate desire to attend hair design school and more to do with my gleaned perceptions of what it meant to be attractive. I wanted Barbie to look like me so that I could see more of myself in her beauty.

Unfortunately Barbie’s looks are unattainable. Her chest is way too big for that little frame. 

In fact, a lot of components in life tend to be dictated by the impossibly large breast phenomena. An extension of which is that we, as humans, are constantly striving to conform to the norm.  And conforming isn’t easy when society tells you that you need double d’s and all you’ve got to work with are triple A’s. So you stuff your bra with Kleenex and pretend that you’ve got it all figured out. You don’t, but you pretend. Because in the end, everyone’s stuffing. 

This past week I was really lucky to have the opportunity to sit down  with a couple of women that are going against the norm, throwing away the bra altogether! They are professional pole fitness instructors and champions. Despite the negative attention they receive for their sport's association with the stripping industry, these women have made a successful pole fitness business for themselves. Through this business they aim to empower women and challenge stereotypes. 

I attempted to learn how to pole dance too. The photo below documents the most challenging movement I was able to execute. I'm sure Barbie would have been much better. 

Check out the full article I wrote in this week’s issue of The Uniter and please follow my blog as I investigate other Winnipegers who have given up stuffing!